récifvsrécupConfusable pair

Which to use

“récif” and “récup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,238
“récif” frequency rank
#27,952
“récup” frequency rank
59190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récif récup
Definition Rocher ou chaîne de rochers à fleur d’eau, dans la mer. Technique de restauration ou de création à partir d’objets anciens.

Where the eye mixes récif and récup

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. récif and récup follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
récif
5 ch
récup

Visual trap between récif and récup

A purely visual mix-up. récif (\ʁe.sif\) and récup (\ʁe.kyp\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récif is recorded at frequency rank #31,238, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.sif\. récup is at rank #27,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kyp\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 59190, this pair ranks #104,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of récif vs récup

Shared letters: cré. Private to "récif": fi. Private to "récup": pu.

"récif" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "récup" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "récif" and "récup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.sif\ versus \ʁe.kyp\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "récif" or "récup"?
"récup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,952 in our French list, against #31,238 for "récif". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "récif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récif" and "récup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "récif vs relit". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #104,557 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list